


Surviving One’s Self

by Liffyno



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Parenting, Childhood Friends, Cussing, Developing Friendships, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Venting, Enemies to Friends, Fighting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, LGBTQ Character, Loss of Parent(s), Love/Hate, M/M, Mild Gore, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, Opening Up, Past Abuse, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Violence, Play Fighting, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Romantic Friendship, Self-Destruction, Self-Discovery, Self-Doubt, Self-Hatred, Self-Worth Issues, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, coming to terms with sexuality, finding happiness, letting go, sensitive topics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25167109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liffyno/pseuds/Liffyno
Summary: How Wolf O'donnell figured himself out and made friends and enemies along the way.(This is apart of my Murder Of Crows Star Fox Au. You’ll have to read that for this story to make more sense)
Relationships: Wolf O'Donnell/Leon Powalski
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Summary

How Wolf O'donnell figured himself out and made friends and enemies along the way.

(This is apart of my Murder Of Crows Star Fox Au. You’ll have to read that for this story to make more sense)


	2. Wolf O’Donnell

Wolf O’Donnell never thought he’d live past twenty. For most of his life he never imagined himself having an actual life. Never thought he’d finish school, go to college, get a job.. and he never ever imagined himself getting married and starting a family. 

His father had ruined that vision for him. 

Wolf never really lived an uncomfortable life. He was born into a lot of money, he had grandparents that spoiled him, he had a huge house and all the toys he wanted. 

Wolf’s mom came from a wealthy family. Her parents, Wolf’s grandparents, who ran a successful independent bank. Wolf’s father never spoke about his parents. 

Present day Wolf didn’t like talking about his parents either..

Wolf’s father had begun working for Wolf’s mother’s father a couple months before he met Wolf’s mom, who at the time had just finished college and was working for her father as well for the time being. They’d gotten married a year later. His father by this time had become very wealthy compared to how he’d been before.

Wolf didn’t exactly remember most of his childhood, but he remembered some things.. Like back when his father had been a nice enough guy. Wolf wouldn’t say he was the best father. He hardly had time to teach Wolf how to catch and throw or take him out to get ice cream or talk to him about girls. Wolf usually saw him sometime after dinner, when his nanny had already put him to bed. On the nights his father did come home before Wolf lost himself to sleep.

He’d hear his father’s car pull into the driveway, and he’d run to his window to look down and see. Then he’d sneak out of his room to peek down from the top of the stairs and watch his father come in and greet Wolf’s mother. They would share a small peck on the lips and Wolf would stick out his tongue silently in disgust. Then his mother would take his father’s coat and ask him how his day was. It was usually the same every time. “Someone has to keep the economy running.” He’d joke. Not really an answer, but his mother never pushed.

Then his father would go sit in the parlor and drink. Only one. Usually whiskey or scotch. His father never drank more than one on work nights. His father and mother would talk, and Wolf would eavesdrop.. Then when Wolf got bored he’d step on a squeaky stair or clear his throat, just to get his father’s attention. There would be a short silence, and sometimes his mom would say, “Someone’s waiting for you.” Then his fathers would get up and walk out of the parlor, and Wolf would hurry back to his bed and get back under his covers. He’d listen to his father climb you the creaking stairs, and then snuggle deeper into his blankets when he heard him approach the door. 

His father would open it, peeking his head in before walking in. Wolf would do his best to look like he’d been in bed the whole time.. He’d sometimes even pretend to be asleep, but his father always knew. He’d sit on the end of Wolf’s bed, and the mattress would sink on that end. Most if not always Wolf would lose his composure and giggle, giving himself away and revealing he wasn’t sleeping. 

Then his father would ask him if he had been out of bed, and Wolf would shake his head. Then he’d ask if Wolf had given his nanny any trouble that day, and Wolf would shake his head but grin despite himself.. They’d then go onto talking about how the other day had gone and what interesting things had happened. 

Then his father would get up and ruffle the fur on his head. “Goodnight bucko. Sleep well.” But before he left the room Wolf would call out, and his father would turn around and raise a brow, “Yes?” He’d ask. 

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

“I’m always busy, son.”

Wolf would bite his lip, already knowing what his father’s response will be.. but he’d ask anyway: 

“Can we play tomorrow?”

His father would give him a sympathetic look.

“You know I’m busy.”

“Just for a while.”

His father smiles, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Wolf would nod. And his father would leave. 

Every morning his nanny would wake him up, and he’d get ready for school and go downstairs to the dining room, where his nanny would have breakfast ready for him. He’d usually eat breakfast alone, and then his nanny would rush him out the door so he wouldn’t be late. But everyday before he left his mother would find the time to stop him at the door and kiss him goodbye. Wolf would act like he didn’t like it, but he did. He loved his mother very much. His nanny usually drove him to school.

And then every day after school, instead of his nanny taking him back home, his mother would pick him up. At this time she worked as a caterer for fancy parties and events for wealthy people her parents knew. But in the afternoon she would pick him up, and if she was fairly busy she’d take him to work. ‘Work’ was usually at someone’s huge house or at a winery or wherever she was setting up the party.

She’d keep working while Wolf explored the place or tested the food or caused trouble. 

Then when she was done with work for the day she’d take him back home and he’d play until his nanny called him for dinner.

Then the day would start all over again. 

Except on weekends, which he usually spent with his grandparents. They’d take him to parties and events, or grandpa would have friends over for drinks and Wolf would run around the huge house looking for ‘hidden passageways’ his grandfather would tell him about. He usually was allowed to go around the house unattended because his grandparents didn’t really care what he did as long as he didn’t break anything too expensive.

This was Wolf’s childhood. He didn’t remember much, but there wasn't much to remember. It was a steady flow of the same routine very week, and Wolf hadn’t minded it. 

Back then Wolf had been so naive and in his own little world. He needn’t have to worry about anything, because everything was provided for him.

But Wolf remembered the before and after it all went downhill for him and his parents, and the horrible in between.

He was ten, almost eleven when his grandfather died. Heart attack. Wolf’s mother had been devastated. His grandmother had been too grief-stricken to keep the business going, so Wolf’s father had taken over. 

Little by little Wolf started going over to his grandmother’s house less and less on the weekends, but when he did, he recalled his grandmother looking distant. Like she was somewhere else. But those nights when she tucked him into bed she’d tell him about his grandfather. Some kind of story of when he was a boy or when she’d first met him. Wolf would listen, because he knew what joy it gave her to relive those memories. To share them.

She dies a little less than a year later. His mother takes a break from work to grieve. His father is too caught up with work to comfort her. 

Wolf seems to be the only one who benefits from it. His grandparents had left him a decent amount of money, though most of it couldn’t be accessed until he was eighteen. Thankfully the will assigned one of his grandpa’s good friends who used to work at his grandfather’s bank as the executor, and not his father.

And then the chaos began. 

His father had taken his chances at investing in more branches for the bank. His mother had been indifferent to the idea, but his father had convinced her it was all in their favor. His father had done fairly well with the help of one of grandfather’s old business partners. 

Wolf didn’t know much back then. He didn’t know exactly how it happened. He didn’t know the science to it. But his father had made some sort of mistake that had lost him the banks and all of the things Wolf’s grandparents had worked for.

That night father came home early. Wolf had been eating dinner alone in the quiet dining room. He listened to his father’s frustrated voice and his mother’s anguished one. She’d yelled at him, and he’d yelled back. It had scared Wolf, because he had never heard his parents talk like this. Never had he heard them fight. 

His nanny had taken him back to his bedroom and distracted him with a game of cards, but this didn’t save Wolf from the screaming and arguing downstairs.

“What’s going on? Why are they so angry?”

His nanny pursed her lips. 

“They just need to work some things out. It’s best we don’t get involved.”

She said it in such a way that kept Wolf from pushing the matter. 

Soon the yelling had stopped. Wolf heard the slamming of the front door. He ran to his bedroom window and looked down at the driveway, where he saw his father get into his car and drive away. 

His nanny told him to stay there, and that she’d be back up in a minute. Wolf, of course, did not listen. He went downstairs to find his mother crying on the floor of the parlor. His nanny was in the kitchen, talking urgently on the phone.

Wolf went up to his mother and tapped her on the shoulder.. 

“Mommy, where did dad go?”

Wolf could never forget how she looked when she turned to look at him. At the blood from the cut on her lip. Her red, puffy eyes welling with tears that slipped down her cheeks and chin. The fear and grief in her eyes. 

“Wolf. Wolf came here.” She said, holding her arms out to him.

He does, though hesitantly. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. 

“What happened to you mommy?”

“Nothing sweetheart .”

“You're crying.”

“Sometimes women need to cry.”

“You’re bleeding.” 

“...”

“Where did dad go?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did he leave-“

“I don’t know.” This time her voice was angry.

Silence.. then Wolf backed away enough to see her face. 

“Did dad do this to you?”

His mother gave him a very sad look.

The nanny walks into the room. “I just talked with the police, they’ll be here soon.” Her eyes widen when she sees Wolf. “I told you to stay upstai-“

“He’s fine. It’s ok. Can you wait here for the police while I take him back to bed?” His mother asks. His nanny nods and heads to the front door.

He follows his mother upstairs, and she tucks him in. 

“It’s not even my bedtime.”

“You need to be well rested. We’re going on a trip tomorrow.” His mother said, a weak smile on her broken lips.

“Where are we going?” 

“Far away. Somewhere we’ve never been before. Won’t that be fun?”

Wolf nods, “Like another kingdom?”

“Yes. A magical kingdom.”

“Can we get ice cream?”

“Yes. And this time you can get two scoops.”

Wolf smiles, “Awesome.”

His mother kisses his forehead, “Sleep tite. We’ll have lots of fun tomorrow, but I need you to go to bed now. No getting up, ok? No matter what.”

“Ok mommy.”

She smiled, “Good. I love you baby.”

Wolf grimaces, “I’m not a baby. Don’t call me that.”

“You’ll always be my baby.”

The next morning, instead of his nanny getting him up, Wolf’s mom comes and helps him pick out an outfit to wear and begins to pack a bag for him. She explains they’ll need to bring clothes because they may be gone for a while.

“Is dad coming?”

Wolf’s mom frowns. “No. He is busy.”

They leave that morning in a cab. They go to a hotel with a pool where Wolf’s mom watches him swim for the better part of the day. When he is tired out they go to their hotel room and snuggle as they watch a movie. 

They stay there for almost a week. Then his mother says it's time to go home. 

His father’s car is there when they get back. His mother parks in the driveway and sits there for a while. A long while. Wolf sits restlessly I’m the back seat, wondering why they weren’t going in.

“Are we going in?”

His mother smiles at him through the rear-view mirror. Her lip is mostly healed by now.

“Yes baby. Let’s go.”

They enter the house, and there is a silence there that is different from before. There is no music playing in the parlor. No noise from the kitchen. Nothing.

His father sits in the parlor, drink in hand. 

“Where were you?” He asks, his voice has a weight to it.

His mother doesn’t look at him directly. “We went on a trip.”

“You didn’t tell me. I was worried.” He looks at Wolf, “Did you have fun?”

Wolf nods, “Yeah. I got to swim in a pool and we got ice cream and mom let me stay up late-“

“Wolf, could you go up to your room? Your father and I need to talk.”

Wolf looks confused, “Ok. But can I come back down later?”

“Of course you can. I’ll come get you soon.”

Wolf nods and walks up the stairs, catching a glimpse of his father’s dark gaze watching him. He gets to the top of the stairs and stands there, listening. 

“You can’t stay here.” Wolf is shocked by his mother’s cold voice.

“This is my house. I live here.”

“. . .”

“You know I love you. I was just angry.” His father says slowly, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“But you did. You did hurt me.” His mother hisses.

“And I apologized. What more do you want?”

Before Wolf could hear more, his nanny walks up behind him and grabs his arm, dragging him back to his room. 

“You shouldn't eavesdrop.” She said.

“Sorry..”

His nanny looks at him, “Did you have breakfast yet?” 

“Yes.”

His nanny nods, “How about we play a game?”

“I don’t want to play games.”

His nanny frowns, “Then what do you want to do?”

Wolf is silent for a while, then he looks up at her, “Did my dad hurt mom?”

His nanny inhaled loudly. “You shouldn't speak about such things. Now why don’t we-“

Wolf jerks his arms away from her grasp, “You’re lying! Just like my mom. She lied about dad hurting her, and so are you.” Wolf tears up, “Why did he hurt her?” 

His nanny’s bottom lip trembles. “He was angry. He didn’t know what he was doing. It will all be fixed soon, ok?”

“Do mom and dad still love each other?”

“Of course they do..”

“I’m tired.” Wolf says, and it’s true. The road trip and the late night movie watching with his mom had been tiring, and the knowledge of his father’s outburst made him even more tired.

His nanny nods, “Alright. I’ll let you sleep then. I’ll get you up at dinner time ok?”

Wolf shrugs and slumps on his bed, hugging a stuffed toy dinosaur to his chest. His nanny hesitated before leaving. He lay there in his bed, trying to push away the thought of his parents.

The next couple days, Wolf hardly sees his father. He doesn’t come home at night. Wolf doesn’t ask about him. He knows that makes his mom angry.

At the end of the week, Wolf is picked up from school by his father. Wolf sits in the back silently as his father drives.

“How was your day?”

“Good I guess..”

“That’s good. That’s good..” His father seems like his old self, though Wolf didn’t have much to go off. He hardly ever saw his father during the day. 

“So I’m coming back to live with you guys. Isn’t that nice?” His father says, smiling.

Wolf frowns, “Where were you?”

“I- I was just getting some things in order.”

“ . . .”

“You ok bucko? You seem down.”

Wolf shrugs.

“You know. I’m not working anymore. So I’ll be at home all day every day.” His father chuckles, “Won't that be nice? You and I can hang out and play like you wanted.”

“What about mom?”

Wolf’s father sighs, “You’re sure a mama's boy, aren't you? Your mom is going to start working again.”

“Why aren’t you working?”

“I don’t need to anymore.”

“. . .

Do you still love mom?”

His father frowns, “Of course I do. I love her more than anything.”

“Then why did you hurt her?”

His father tenses, and Wolf sees his hands grip the steering wheel tighter.

“Is that what she's telling you?” He sighs again, “Your momma and I just had a disagreement. It’s all over now.”

This was the first of many lies his father would tell him. 

Wolf wished his mother had just ended it. Never given the man another chance. But she did..

And things never got better. They only got worse. 

His father began drinking. A lot. And his mother kept away from the house as much as she could. 

They fought. Even though they always told Wolf it was fine, that this was just how marriage was sometimes, Wolf knew all they said were lies. 

He began to despise his father. Whenever Wolf walked in on his mother crying, he knew one way or another his father had caused it.

His father kept hurting her, yelling at her. He’d come back home late at night drunk and angry. And every time she let him come back into their lives. 

Wolf stayed away from his father as much as he could, and his father didn’t seem to notice. Wolf’s mom was at work all day and as soon as she came home she’d go to bed.

Wolf felt very alone most of the time. His mother didn’t seem to invest as much time in Wolf as she used to. Wolf told himself it was because she was just tired.

Wolf was a little tired too. 

Later on Wolf’s father had fired his nanny, believing Wolf was old enough to take care of himself. 

Wolf spent most of his days alone. In an empty house. By the time he was sixteen his mom had finally divorced his father. She got the house, Wolf’s father got a majority of the money. Wolf was left with nothing but his inheritance and an abusive father. Since mom wasn’t there to take the brunt of his anger and drunken rampages, Wolf became an easy target. 

It started with verbal remarks. About Wolf’s grades or him being too much like his mother. Wolf did his best to ignore him, and usually his father would go back to drinking himself into unconsciousness. 

Then it got to the point where he’d sleep in the pool house behind the house. There was a lounging area where he could curl up on with a blanket. There was still times where his father found him in his drunken state and Wolf had to go to bed with bruises. 

And Wolf was alone. And being alone and left to your own thoughts can hurt you in many ways.

And so it begins.


	3. Finding Company

“Hurry up. We’re gonna get caught if we stay any longer.”

Wolf looked up at the voice’s owner in annoyance. “I’m almost done jackass.”

Wolf’s companion, a tall monkey named Andrew, was looking down the road in a paranoid manner. They were under a highway overpass. It was night time, no light except for the distant highway lights and the headlights of the cars that passed by.. 

Wolf was preoccupied with tagging the underside of the concrete wall of the overpass, while his companion watched for any signs of law enforcement.. 

Wolf didn’t usually do this. It wasn’t his style. If he was going to be destructive, he’d much rather go break into his father’s liquor cabinet and trash the pool house again. Or maybe terrorize the neighborhood with some of the upperclassmen.

He was more or less doing it for his own pride.. Someone had told Wolf he didn’t have the guts to do such a thing. Well, Wolf would much rather settle this dispute by spilling guts rather than proving he had them, but he wasn’t about to start a fight with someone who may be his newest connection to free food or even a party.. If he did this, he would win some sort of favor.

Wolf is only fifteen years old, but he’d been hanging out with dipshits since middle school. When his mom moved out. His father didn’t necessarily give a shit about what he did, so Wolf did what he wanted. He’d gotten into bad things more earlier on than other kids, but it wasn’t his fault his parents weren’t there to care. 

So Wolf and Andrew, his somewhat childhood friend, rode their bikes late in the evenings to get away from home and get into trouble

They’d have to get caught first, though.

There had been few times Wolf had been involved with police, where he’d been caught vandalizing or disturbing neighborhoods. The first time a police officer took him in, his father had to come and pick him up from the town police station.. and the aftermath hadn’t been pretty.

“Do you think K will be mad if I add a dick?” Wolf asks, shaking another can and popping it open.

“Do you even know how to draw a dick?” Andrew grimaces.

“Take yours out and I can use it for reference.” Wolf sneers. He ignores Andrew’s disgusted cough and steps back to admire his work. He was professional, but he was decently artistic. He pulled out his phone and took a pic before continuing his work.

“What are you doing? It looks done to me.” Andrew says, biting his thumb nail and glancing back at Wolf’s masterpiece.

“Give me a second-“

“Shit! Wolf-“

Wolf looks over to where Andrew is looking. A cop car, only a couple meters away, is pulling up. Wolf’s stomach plummets before he looks away and grabs his bags. 

“Let’s go, monkey.”

The two scramble up a grassy hill, the policeman yelling at them. Wolf ignores him and keeps going, looking around for their bikes they’d left up there. 

“Over here.” Andrew hisses, and Wolf follows him with a police on their tail. Wolf hops on his bike and pedals as fast as he can down the slope and into the nearest street. 

Wolf barely avoids getting run over by a semi truck, who shrieks to a halt and honks at him. Wolf turns and rides back onto the sidewalk, so he wouldn’t have to worry about being flattened like a pancake. 

Wolf sped through town, Andrew following.. When he was sure no police had decided to follow he slowed to a stop. Andrew stopped beside him, sounding out of breath.

Wolf’s smile was wicked.. “That was fun-“

“That was not fun.” Andrew says, “We could’ve gotten in big trouble.”

“But we didn’t.” Wolf says, feeling mighty proud of himself. 

“You might want to get rid of that stuff.” Andrew gestured to the bag of spray cans.

“You’re probably right. Come on.” Wolf hops off his bike and walks down the sidewalk until they find an alley between a drug store and an apartment building. Wolf dumps the bag into a large dumpster. Then, just in case, he covers it with some of the trash already inside, making a gross sound when his hand comes in contact with some unidentifiable substance. 

“Fucking gross.” He snarls as he wipes the stuff on the front leg of his jeans. It smelled faintly of banana or some shit..

“Didn’t your mommy ever tell you not to dig in trash?” Andrew jokes.

“Don’t talk about my mommy or I’ll make you eat this trash.” Wolf hisses. 

Andrew puts up his hands, “Chill man. I was just joking..”

Wolf ignores him and takes a step out of the alley. He looks down the street and sees no police cars. Good.

“I think we’re good. But keep a look out just in case.”

“No shit.” 

Wolf takes out his phone and pulls up the picture of the ‘art’ he’d made. He sent it to a contact named: pussycat. Something he found humourous at the time of naming it but couldn’t remember why. Wolf admits he could be very immature sometimes. 

“Have you sent it yet?”

“Just did.” Wolf murmured, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “Wanna get lunch?”

“It’s past dinner time.” Andrew says, giving him an odd look.

Wolf shrugs, “I haven’t had lunch.”

“Whatever. Let’s go.” Andrew hops back on his bike and Wolf follows. The monkey leads them to a diner a couple blocks away.. They decide to abandon their bikes in a nearby alley. Wolf didn’t bother in getting a lock for it and could care less if someone stole that piece of shit. 

Wait until he got a car.. 

Wolf smirks at the thought. He couldn’t wait until he was able to drive away from this dump. This cursed town..

They take a seat inside. Andrew says a little in his chair, still looking a bit exhausted. A waitress walks over and takes their order, and Wolf smiles and does his best to flatter as usual, though being younger lots of the young women he flirts with find it amusing..

“Dude, you’re too young for her.” Andrew stifles a laugh. 

Wolf sneers at him, “I know that. I’m just warming up. They’ll be all over me soon enough.”

“Yah right.”

“Shut up.”

Andrew frowns, “What?”

“Shhhh.” Wolf puts his index finger to his lips, this points past Andrew. Andrew looks behind him and curses.

“Looks like they found us.” Wolf smiles.

“Sooner than I was hoping.” Andrew murmured, looking back down at the table.

A group of juniors from Wolf’s school. Wolf hated juniors, but he was a Freshman, and everyone hated freshmen, so having ‘friends’ that are juniors was beneficial. Wolf bit his tongue as the group approached their table. 

The lead of the group is a leopard. His posture is straight and authoritative, likes he thinks he owns the air around him. His companions are a male hawk and a female.. snake. Wolf shivered. He’d never been very fond of reptiles. Yes, that was very speciesist, but Wolf wasn’t a very insensitive person. 

“O'Donnell. It’s been a while.” The leopard smiles. Without asking he takes a serf at their table. The other two don’t bother to sit, instead just watching the conversation unfold while standing to the side.

“We talked two days ago.” Wolf says, taking a sip of the drink he’d ordered. 

“Seems so long. I get impatient, hours seem longer than they are.” The leopard chuckles, “You know what I mean?”

Wolf did, but didn’t. This cat was.. strange. He always seemed to be on some kind of drugs.. And the way he talked made Wolf uneasy.

Not scared, but more like the cat could change emotions in a second. You had to be careful with him. 

“Sure.. Are you here to ask me if I did it? Because I did.”

“I know you did. You sent me a pic.. very amusing. Very.. funny.” The leopard snickers, holding up his phone for Wolf and Andrew to see. Wolf senses his companion holding his breath.

“A work of art, isn’t it?” Wolf smiles, sitting back in his chair.

“You think this is a joke?” The leopard’s dark eyes had dilated, more than they usually were.. He was still smiling, and looking at him in a way that made Wolf’s adrenaline run..

“Anything can be a joke.. Life can get so boring sometimes.” Wolf says, not backing down. 

“Hm. So true.. And I appreciate your.. humorous antics. But you know, you should start minding who you joke around with.” 

“I did what you asked. Had a little fun with it. Almost got caught.” Wolf shrugs, “I didn’t mean any disrespect K.. Just doing what you asked of me.”

K is what the Leopard went by. It was probably short for his real name, but Wolf never bothered to ask what his name was.. Probably something embarrassing.

“Un Huh. I’m sure you mean no disrespect.” K sneers.

The two pause as the waitress comes back, setting Wolf and Andrew’s orders on the table. She looked at the other three, “Can I help you?..”

K smiles at her. Not flirtatious, but intimidated.. “We’re fine, sweetheart.”

The waitress nods and hurries away. 

“Now. I’m still trying to decide if I should cut you the original deal, since you did come through..” K’s eyes slowly train themselves back on Wolf, “Or.. I could take your motives the wrong way and show you a lesson.”

Wolf takes a fry and takes a bite of it. He would never admit it, but the way K sometimes talked to him reminded him of his father.. Probably the biggest reason Wolf hadn’t ticked K off already.

“What do you think, guys?” K asks his two comrades. 

The snake’s eyes flicker to Andrew, who has been sitting silently, gnawing on his fries.. “Don’t know.. They didn’t necessarily do any harm.” 

Wolf spots her long, forked tongue flick slightly as she talks. Her voice is smooth and her gaze calculating. Intimidating as she was, Wolf couldn’t help appreciating her taking his side.

“And we are running low on helpers.” The hawk smirks, stealing a fry from Andrew’s plate.. “Let’s see how helpful they are.”

K sighs, “Very well. Seems my friends find you useful..”

“What does this entail?” Wolf asks.

“Well, you wanted part in our shenanigans, no? We’ll let you in. But what I had you do was only child play. If you're willing, you’ll have to partake in more.. errands we have for you.” K picks at his fingernails, seeming to be getting restless and bored..

Wolf shrugs, “Yah, ok. Sure. But give me a break, won’t ya? I already did something risky for you today.. I’d like to take a break before I go out toilet papering houses and robbing candy stores.”

K laughs, “Oh. You’re up for a real surprise if that’s what you are expecting.” He shakes his head, laughing again, “I’ll be in contact. Don’t chicken out on me, ok Wolf?” He says, getting up from his seat.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Wolf says and the three walk out of the diner, leaving Andrew and him to their meal.. Wolf took a bite of another fry. They were cold..

“That went better than I thought it would.” Andrew huffs.

“Don’t hold your breath..”

Wolf later learned the snake lady’s name is Tori. 

The first meeting wasn’t with K himself, but her. Wolf hadn’t been exactly surprised.. K was usually untraceable, and had others do the work he didn't like. 

Tori called Wolf and Andrew ‘errand boys’. Not a very favorable nickname, in Wolf’s opinion. He’d gotten mixed up with K with the goal of getting certain benefits, not to be running stupid errands for him. But he guessed that’s how it went.

The snake was actually pretty chill. And maybe it was too soon for Wolf to call her kind.. but she wasn’t wicked. While K flashed his fangs and claws around like toys, Tori seemed to save her venom for real skirmishes. 

The next few weeks went by like usual.. Going to school, avoiding home, spending money, fooling around.. Wolf usually did all these things with Andrew.

Andrew. Usually quiet. Very intelligent. Sometimes pissed Wolf off, and vice versa. But they’d known each other for a while, mostly because of their parents being ‘friends’ in the past.

K contacted him on a Sunday evening, almost three weeks after their little meeting. K told him Tori would be waiting for Wolf and Andrew in a alley next to a pharmacy in town.. 

Andrew’s uncle was a doctor. At least that was what Andrew said. The few times Wolf had met Dr. Andross had been brief and uncomfortable. Andrew’s parents were traveling businessmen, so Andrew stayed with his uncle often. Wolf was always set off by the strange wariness of the old, elegant house Mr. Andross resided in.. 

His office was the worst part.. Just like in the movies. Big desk with a menacing chair, bookshelves all over, an old, antique carpet that spread across a good fraction of the floor..

Apparently K knew of Andrew’s uncle as well, and K had hatched a wicked little plan that could cost Dr. Andross his doctoring license.

If they were caught.

“Wait- K wants me to do what?!” Andrew spat, looking at Tori in disbelief.

Tori shrugs. “He knows you can. Just fake a prescription under Dr. Andross’s name.”

“That’s- thats illegal!” Andrew says with a bit of a voice brake.. Wolf watches in amusement.

“I don’t see the problem. You wanted this.” Tori’s long snake tail shifts on the ground, the end of it rattling softly.

Ugh, yes. Tori was a rattlesnake. 

In most of Corneria it was unlawful for reptiles of any kind who have certain.. illegal substances, like venom, to use or sell it illegally. There were donations, just like blood drives, who would take donations of venom or whatever for medicine and research purposes. 

If a reptile were to use their venom on another person, they’d be sentenced for a long while. But to kill someone with your own venom.. that could be punishable by death, or at least a sentence for life.

Not that Wolf was worried Tori would sink her fangs into him, but it was somewhat humbling to remember that she had a big advantage over him.

“I’m not going to risk my uncles-“ 

“Andrew.” Wolf speaks up, silencing the monkey. Andrew glared at him. 

“It’s not a big deal. Just get K his permission slip for his dinosaur gummies and don’t get caught. Simple.” Wolf flicked Andrew’s nose.

Andrew swats his hand away, “If he finds out, he’ll kill me dead.”

“Then don’t get caught.” Wolf shrugged. 

Andrew scoffed at him, and at Tori, and at everything that made him annoyed at the moment, which could be a long list.

“Fine. Fine.” Andrew throws up his hands.

“Good.” Tori grins, “I’ll tell K. He will be pleased.” Her head turns to Wolf, “When he has it, K wants you two to come to this address.” She hands Wolf a slip of paper, “Dress to impress.” She snorts, turning away and walking off. Wolf watches her go silently, then looks down at the piece of paper.

“I hate this.” Andrew growls, kicking an empty can across the alley..

“I hate K too, but look what it’s getting us.” Wolf smirks as he waves the little piece of paper in front of Andrew. 

“Oh joy, free paper.” Andrew mumbles, turning away from Wolf and walking away. Wolf chuckled and followed behind..

“You have no idea how horrible that was.” Andrew hisses at Wolf after he snuck out the front door only his Uncle’s house to meet Wolf.

“I can imagine.” Wolf says.

“You know how I told you about his late night patient calls?” Andrew asks, handing a slip of thin paper to Wolf. It had a perfect replica of Dr. Andross’s signature. Andrew had skill.

“Yeah, why?”

“His phone started ringing while I was in the office. I had to hide under his desk praying he wouldn’t look under..”

“Did it work?”

Andrew gives him a puzzled look, “Did what work.”

Wolf smiles, breathing in another lung full of the fresh, night air. “Praying.”

Andrew snorted, “I’m guessing I was just lucky.. or my uncle was too tired to notice.”

Wolf nodded..

“Oh! And the worst part- I forgot the slip on the desk when I hid.” Andrew let out a relieved sigh, “I’m so glad he didn’t notice.”

“Likewise. Now let’s go down to the pharmacy and get this done. We have a party to attend.” Wolf smiled.

The two set off for the pharmacy store. It wasn’t too far from Andrew’s house. When they got there though, it took a while for them to decide who would go in and get the stuff..

They finally decided that, yah, sinse Andrew did the “hard” work in getting the slip, Wolf would go into the pharmacy and cash it in or whatever.. Besides, Andrew had been sneaky enough to actually put the medication under Wolf’s name, so it’d be very strange if there was a monkey named Wolf.

It was actually quite amusing. The lady at the counter gave Wolf a very.. strange look. Probably trying to decide if it was his youth or sketchy smirk that set her off.. Wolf handed her the slip nonchalantly. She stared at him for a second before smiling and turning to her computer.. 

Wolf leaned against the counter and waited.. Finally after what seemed forever she looked up and nodded, “Your Wolf O’Donnell?”

Wolf nods, “Yes indeed.” 

She nods again and turns to walk through a glass door behind her. She appears a minute later with a white paper bag. She sets it down and types some stuff onto her computer, and Wolf hears a whirling machine sound and some sort of receipt popped out. She then staples it to the paper bag and hands it to him. 

“Ten dollars.” She says. 

Wolf makes an incoherent noise and shoves his hand down his pocket, searching for whatever cash he may have laying around. He finally pulled out a ten and handed it to her. 

“Have a nice day.” She says. Wolf nods and walks out. Andrew is waiting for him in the front.

“You got it?” Andrew asks.

Wolf holds up the bag, “You tell me.” 

Andrew lets out another relieved sigh and nods, “Alright. Let’s go.”

The address on the paper Tori gave Wolf isn’t far either.. When they get there, Wolf is overwhelmed by the amount of cars parked in the driveway and in front of the house. So it was a party.

Sweet.

“We hit the jackpot.” Wolf smiles. 

Andrew gives him a dull look, “You’re actually excited about this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Andrew grimaces at the obviously full house of crazy teenagers as they approached the front door of the house. “It’s loud and cramped.”

“Fun fun fun.” Wolf says, squinting as he approaches the door. On it was a note taped to it. It read: 

Hey pipsqueaks. You know who you are..

Use the backdoor.

~ K 

Wolf rolls his eyes and rips the note of the door.. just to rip something.. They circle the house until they come to the backyard, which is also full of people. Wolf shouldered his way through a group of people and almost jumped when an arm was slung around his neck. He looks to his right to see K’s other friend, the hawk. Wolf never remembered his name. It was a mouthful, something like Nikolai.. or Nathaniel?

“You’re late.” The hawk says, his words slurred. Wolf notices a red cup in his right hand. The bird reeks of alcohol. 

“I’m not late, you're drunk.” Wolf says, shouldering him off. The hawk laughs as if Wolf had told a joke. 

“Where’s K?”

“K? Oh. Upstairs.. or.. in the kitchen? I dunno.” The hawk shrugs.

Wolf walks into the house, which leads into the dining room.. To their right is the kitchen, which by the looks of it had been trashed already. No K though.

“Well maybe you could find him for us and tell him we have his shit?” Wolf says, holding up the bag.

Hawk smirks, “Oh! So you finally got your chores done?” 

Wolf ignores him and presses through crowds of people, searching for spotted fur.. He finally does a circle of all the first floor room and sighs. Why must it be so hard to track this guy down? For all he knew K wasn't even at this party.

Wolf trudged up the stairs. Andrew followed silently. The hawk had lost interest in them long before and had gone back to his partying.

The first room was a bathroom, currently occupied by a vomiting girl. Having too much fun, it seemed.. 

The next room was locked. Wolf walked past when he heard.. certain noises coming from the other side of the door. Andrew made a gagging sound behind him.

Finally they found him. The cat of prey in his territory. Andrew spotted him first, and grabbed the sleeve of Wolf’s jacket to pull him back. Wolf followed Andrew’s pointed finger.

They walked into a balcony that overlooked the backyard, where the partygoers were drinking and talking and what not.. K turned his head to them a smiled, “Look who decided to join the party~”

Wolf tossed the paper bag at him, which landed in the cat’s lap. K looked amused as he used one hand to rip open the bag, the other holding a glass of some substance that was very pink.

“Well look-y here. You did it.” K’s smile widened, his teeth flashing under the dim party lights strung around the backyard. 

“What the hell is it anyway?” Wolf asked.

“Amphetamines.” Andrew answers.

K smiles lazily at him, “Hey, you know your stuff. Can’t say I’m too surprised.. Your uncle being a crazy doctor and all.” He takes a drink, his gaze still on them. “Thank you so very kindly for getting these for me. My last.. forgery specialist left.” He give them a meaningful look, “Don't do drugs kids.” He then laughs at his own joke and takes another drink.

Wolf sighed. This dude was a nutcase.

“Anyway. Feel free to stick around. Have some drinks, just don’t tell your parents!” He laughs, “Oh- and if you see Tori, tell her I’m in need of assistance.” He says, his smile turned wicked.

“Is that all?” Wolf asks, raising a brow. “You just wanted drugs? Nothing else?”

K shakes his head, “Nah man. What do you think this is? A gang?” He chuckles, “Just relax. Get some chow. Maybe even some girls if you're lucky. Some of the tramps here don’t care how old.” He snorts.

Wolf nodded and began walking back into the house, but K cleared his throat to get his attention. Wolf turned his head to him..

“And if the police show up, be ready to run.” He snickers.

“This place is giving me a headache.” Andrew said. 

They had grabbed some pizza and beverages and decided to sit out on the front porch to avoid the noise and groups of people. Wolf hadn’t taken anything with alcohol. He wasn’t.. In all honesty he was hesitant in experimenting so early.. Which surprised him when Andrew, the more timid, sensible one had accepted a cup of something that smelled strong.. 

“You haven’t drank before?” 

Of course Wolf had. He’d drank himself unconscious once or two times before.. But that was in the pool house, alone, where no one would find him and see how much of a mess he was. 

But whenever he had done it he had felt awful afterward.. Not because of the handover, but of the fact that it made him feel just like his father. Drunk off his ass, pitiful, wasted..

And what if he turned out to be violent, just like dad?

“Yah. I don’t like it much, though..” Wolf answers honestly. 

“Me neither. I only like to drink enough to make my head feel fuzzy.” Andrew muses, slightly moving his hand in a circular motion to make the liquid inside his cup swirl around..

Wolf snorts and takes another bite of his pizza. They sit there in silence, pondering..

Twenty minutes later, Andrew is gone. Gone back home. Bored, tired, a little tipsy.. 

Wolf had stayed behind. Because he wanted to. Or maybe because he had nowhere he had to be and no one expecting him..

Wolf stared down at his feet.. Almost feeling foolish for being out here alone while a party, that he had the privilege to be at, was commencing without him. 

Sometimes moody Wolf sucked.

“Hey kid. Feeling gloomy?” As if on cue, Tori had snuck out the front door and stood behind him, and when he heard her voice so close he jumped. 

“Whoa kid. Chill out.” Tori put her hands up, “I don’t bite.”

Wolf snorts at the joke, and Tori takes that as an invitation. She sits down on the porch steps by Wolf, a lighter in her hand. 

“I’m guessing you got K his gummies?” Tori jokes.

Wolf nods, “Yah. Wasn’t too hard.”

Tori chuckles, “I guessed as much. K could do it himself but.. he’s very picky on what he does for himself and what he makes others do for him.”

“I was supposed to tell you that K is in need of your assistance when I find you.” Wolf says.

Tori flicks the sparkwheel of the lighter with her thumb, lighting the little device. They both stared at the little flame before Tori finally answered:

“Yah, I ran into him a few minutes ago.”

“What’d he mean by assistance?” Wolf asked curiously.

Tori reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a box. Reptiles were cold blooded, so they’re temperature dropped faster than other species. So even though it was a semi-warm autumn night, she had a heavier coat on. Wolf wondered what it was like to be a reptile during the winter..

“He just needed to ask me some things.” She opens the box and Wolf realizes they are cigarettes. He watches her light one and holds it to her lips. 

She catches his gaze and smiles, blowing out a puff of the substance. Wolf choked a little on the air.

“Want a hit?” She asks, her forked tongue flicking out of her mouth for just a moment. 

Wolf stared at her for a while before shrugging, “Is it.. bad?”

“I’m pretty sure any smoking is bad.” She says.

“How do I do it?” Wolf asks. 

Tori smiles and scoots closer to him. The hair on the back of Wolf’s neck stood on end.. She took the cig and put it between her pointer and middle finger. She put it to her lips and inhaled. She held it for a moment before blowing it out. Wolf watched the smoke blow away..

Tori took Wolf’s hand and placed the cigarette between his two fingers in the correct way..

“Just inhale slowly, hold it in, then blow out. Don’t breathe it in though.” 

Wolf nods and brings it to his lips, slowly inhaling like she said..

It was.. strange. It almost felt like it was burning his mouth.

And then he accidently inhaled some, and his lungs burned.

And of course he should have blown it out, but the panic of the moment had him inhaling even more. Wolf hunched over and started a coughing fit. He heard Tori chuckled as he struggled to breathe properly..

Tori took the cig from him and patted his back. “Hey, at least you didn’t pass out or vomit.” She handed Wolf a red cup he hadn’t noticed she had. He sniffed hesitantly at the beverage before drinking desperately after he started coughing again. It wasn’t alcohol, just pop. Wolf drinks every last drop, but his lungs still ache.

He looks down at Tori’s empty cup, “Oops.. sorry.” 

She smiles, “It’s fine. You needed it.” She blows out another cloud of smoke..

“I don’t think I should smoke again.” Wolf chuckles.

Tori laughs and nudges him, “Probably for the best.”

Wolf looked out at the night sky. He couldn’t see any stars, but a half moon was shining in the sky.

“So, you going home anytime soon?” Tori asks.

Wolf looks at her confused, “Why? Don’t think I can stay up past my bedtime?”

She drops her cigarette, and they both watch it smolder on the step between her feet before she smashes it with her boot.

“You’re fifteen. Almost an adult.” She smiles, “It just looks like you could be doing anything else other than staying here at this crazy place.”

“Then why are you here? At this crazy place?” Wolf asks. 

“I’m a loser, looking for a way to feel important.”

Wolf shorts, “That’s a very honest thing to admit.”

“It’s true, isn’t it? All of us kids are like that.”

“You think?”

“Oh yah. Trust me kid, being a teenager is a mental illness.”

After that, they had talked for a while, and then Wolf had decided to go home because it was almost twelve, and he had to admit he was pretty tired. 

But his time with Tori had been.. enjoyable. She was easy to be around. She wasn’t intense, but strong.

She had offered to drive him home, but he couldn’t have that. It was usually the other way around, he’d explained, and his house wasn’t too far from here. That was a lie, of course..

But Wolf had to admit his chest heaved when she’d asked him. Maybe this reptile wasn’t so bad at all..

When he arrived at home, his father was waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone realized what the title of this work mean? 
> 
> It’s an acronym, silly.


End file.
